SCIENTISTS have the final confirmation that Adolf
Hitler died in Berlin in 1945. Using forensic dentistry
and computer imaging, they have proved beyond doubt that
the charred remains found by Red Army soldiers outside a
bunker in Berlin were indeed those of the Führer,
writes Fiona Fleck.

The discoveries by Michel Perrier, which
complement previous Russian claims, will be made public
in a paper at a conference in London tomorrow. Fragments
of Hitler's skull and jawbone, locked away in KGB
archives in Moscow, had been thought too charred to
conclusively confirm their identity, but Perrier, a
leading expert at the Institute of Forensic Science at
Lausanne University, decided to investigate.

Although he was not granted access to the bones,
Perrier analysed Russian archive documents and
photographs that could help him identify the remains.
Perrier, who often assists the Swiss police, also made
detailed notes from the American military interrogation
of Hugo Blaschke, the society dentist who treated
Hitler from 1938 to 1945.

"Hitler was a very difficult patient, very impatient.
He had several hang-ups about his teeth and he had very
bad breath, probably because of gum disease," Perrier
said.

Blaschke built Hitler several elaborate dental
constructions, which were identified by Soviet experts
with relative ease.

DAVID
IRVING first published the X-rays of Hitler's head
and sketches by dentist Blaschke in a readers
letter in Die Zeit thirty years ago. They are also
depicted in his book Hitler's
War
(New York, 1977; London 1991 etc). It is good to see the
"scholars" catching up.